June 22, 2020
one hit wonder – noun : a performer, group, etc., that is popular or successful only once for a brief time
For the first time since starting this blog, a week (in the “Sunday-Saturday” sense, not “7 days” sense) went by without me posting. Not that anyone was likely missing my content, but I’m still saddened I didn’t put this up at the end of last week. I’d wanted to leave the previous post for at least a week, however, since I felt it’s message was far more important than anything I’ve previously posted.
What follows was what I’d planned to post the week of the 8th. I’m aware that the impending Arena release of M21 on Thursday means the deck I’m going to discuss isn’t particularly relevant, as it contains none of the new hotness about to drop. I still think it’s a hoot to pilot, though. And the write-up took quite a long time to write, and I’d hate to see the effort go to waste. Without further ramblingocity, I present Rielle’s Top 40 Hit.
Ah, build-around enchantments. Quite a number have been printed in the past year or so, none more infamous than the now-blessedly-banned Fires of Invention.
It’s the gold enchantments that capture my heart, though. Doom Foretold coaxed me over to the dark side after the release of ELD, and more recently I made it a central pillar of my Mardoom deck. Betwixt those creations, Enigmatic Incarnation called to me and settled in a Bant enchantment-based deck I played heavily for a bit.
Ikoiria: Lair of Behemoths brought five new options to tinker with – one for each color wedge: Death’s Oasis, Offspring’s Revenge, Song of Creation, Titans’ Nest, and Whirlwind of Thought. All feel brimming with potential, and it would not surprise me if I spend an abundance of time trying to make each of them purr.
Offspring’s Revenge was the only logical place to start, being in the same colors as my existing favorite deck. After three different builds, I abandoned what felt like a fool’s errand. I strongly suspect I’ll come back to the card, but my initial models felt clunky and feeble. I was convinced the card’s CMC of 5 was the true death-knell. It was just too slow. And let the record show – I have played against an opponent sporting Offspring’s Revenge only once – and the card didn’t seem to work particularly well for them.
Whirlwind of Thought piqued my curiosity next, as I’d already made a “spells matter” deck with Kykar, Wind’s Fury and Vadrok, Apex of Thunder that I thought it might fit in. Honestly, though…I never actually put the card in the deck. Whirlwind of Thought is just…dull. It’s arguably NOT want you want to be doing with 4 mana in a “spells matter” deck, and while it might be efficient if you can untap with it, or somehow play it with mana to spare, it doesn’t do anything except draw you cards. You like drawing cards, I like drawing cards, but in and of itself, that’s not particularly creative or interesting. I recall seeing an opponent play this card once. I blew it up before they untapped. I have no idea if this thing is worth building around.
Death’s Oasis and Titans’ Nest are total unknowns to me – I’ve yet to investigate either, and I’ve never seen either hit the battlefield. Mayhaps I’ll go looking for builds. Neither appeal to me on any fundamental level, however.
To be fair, the card that I’m now smitten with – Song of Creation – didn’t immediately appeal either. The Temur color combination – blue/red/green – conjures naught but bad memories of Risen Reef and bonkers elemental decks that flattened me repeatedly not long after Core 2020 was released a year ago. I purposely ignored Song of Creation for that reason alone.
But Magic often finds ways of surprising you. Be it from a wild bludgeoning or a subtle caress, aspects of the game leave their marks upon you, and you are changed. So it was with my new favorite deck – Rielle’s Top 40 Hit.
A few weeks ago a new Magic subreddit was created: r/JankMagic. Not sure what the impetus was, as there are already oodles of Magic-related subreddits, but I took a look at the smattering of initial posts. One featured a deck based around Rielle, the Everwise and Song of Creation. It looked silly yet synergistic, and I tried to build it from my Arena collection. I was a couple cards short, so I saved it as an incomplete build. I really wasn’t sure how the deck actually worked, but something about it nagged at me, and the next day I forked over a few wildcards to complete the deck.
After the first ten games I think I was 2-8. Most of the losses were total blowouts, one win was a bit of a fluke (deck won despite not doing what it was ultimately designed to do) and one win was among the most bonkers moments in my Magic life. That one crazy victory, when everything came together, was as close to a “perfect” Magic moment as I think I can get. And from that one wild win I knew there was something to the deck.
It’s linked above, but the be explicit: if you’re interested in trying it out, my current build is here: Rielle’s Top 40 Hit. I have no doubt this isn’t the best way to build the deck, but it’s the build I’ve settled on for now.
So how does it work and what does it do?
Initially I was going to say something insipid like “the goal of the deck is quite simple.” But it’s not. The whole thing hinges on Song of Creation, so there is a single, simple goal you start with: get Song of Creation into play and untap with it. Getting there, as well as what you do after you land Song of Creation, is most decidedly NOT simple.
Deciding how to explain the deck is difficult, so I’ll try to explain how it might function as a game progresses.
The deck is ostensibly three colors, but the only card with green in its cost is the most critical – Song of Creation. If my opening hand has Song but no green mana, I’ll most likely keep it. I rarely mulligan with the deck – partly because I am bad at knowing when to mulligan, partly because I hate taking the substantial hit to my chances at winning to go to 6 (or fewer) cards, and partly because the deck already seems terribly suited to going second – going down a card AND going second feels like an auto-loss, regardless of what the new hand looks like.
Honestly, the deck is terribly swingy. Going second feels like a bigger disadvantage than normal, though I’ve yet to determine WHY that seems so. But the deck is capable of spectacular explosions of raw, zany synergy as well as humiliating lead-balloon collapses.
Turns 5-6 feel like the most critical. Now, to be fair, it’s entirely possible that’s true for MANY Standard decks. Mono-red aggro is often mentioned as a deck that needs to win by turns 5 or 6 or it’s likely to just fizzle out, for example. But Rielle’s Top 40 Hit feels different. Turns 1-5 are, as with many decks, largely about setting up the back half of the game. And there’s enough flexibility that you can push the game in several directions based on your early plays and draws. But by turn 5 you typically have a very strong notion of what will happen next – a glorious ascent into synergy nirvana, or a descent in fiery failure like an Evel Knievel stunt gone wrong.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up to the first few turns. Sprite Dragon is one of the primary win conditions, whether you get to use it in conjunction with Song of Creation or not. For as widdle and adorable as it is, opponents generally see it as the huge threat it is, and you don’t have many options to protect it. Against decks without hard removal, though, it can get too big to easily handle. Multiples are especially dangerous for opponents without board wipes. Given the choice of playing a second Sprite Dragon or holding up a Quench to try to protect the first, I’ll almost always drop the second flyer and swing.
Opt and Thrill of Possibility are useful card filtering/drawing, and are pretty unremarkable overall. Just hope you don’t draw Thrill with Song out and an empty hand.
Ominous Seas is a perfectly acceptable and uninspiring early play. Having a couple in play can be devastating once Song of Creation hums, but playing one turn 2 or 3 feels largely feeble. It does nothing initially, except perhaps act as bait for enchantment destruction spells that might otherwise hit Song of Creation. Bounce is especially tough on it, so it’s not uncommon to lose copies with 3-5 counters on them. Still, copies that survive until you untap with Song are invaluable and can do some seriously heavy lifting for the deck.
Fire Prophecy is (an admittedly) questionable inclusion. It’s narrow, hitting only creatures, and it’s limited to 3 damage, so it won’t handle large threats. But it’s proven quite useful at buying the deck some early time by clearing out small threats, as well as removing key chump blockers in the endgame. I haven’t tracked how often I use its card filtering ability, but I’d wager I’ve done so more than 60% of the time. So for now the card remains.
Rielle, the Everwise, like Sprite Dragon, can be quite dangerous if not answered. I think the biggest one I’ve swung at an opponent has been a 14/3. When presented with the choice of playing Song, or playing Rielle and waiting a turn for Song, rarely feels like a true choice – you have to play the waiting game and drop Rielle. The two together are a fearsome combination (more on this in a bit.)
Brazen Borrower does some serious work, just like it does in seemingly every deck it’s a part of. I honestly feel kind of dirty using the card. Interestingly, it’s the creature half that I’m most interested in, and not as an attacker or blocker. If I’m a turn away from playing Song of Creation, I will use the adventure half to bounce even the most inconsequential permanent my opponent controls in order to ensure the creature half of the card is waiting in exile to be played when Song is out. I’ll expound on this in a bit.
The other three-drop creature, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, is among the cards that would probably be cut first, were I to make changes to the deck. The double-red in the casting cost has locked it in my hand from time to time, and it’s activated ability is rarely useful (though it HAS saved a couple games when I needed a spell to trigger Song, but was holding only lands.) The minotaur’s triggered ability is the real reason he’s here – each card you discard due to Song of Creation is a point of damage to the opponent. It can be trivial or substantial, frequent or rare, and thus I’ve determined that I can’t yet determine if the card deserves slots in the deck. For pure synergy alone, I think it’s a fun inclusion.
Ral, Izzet Viceroy is another potential cut. With Song in play, his +1 ability is a great way to find a spell to cast when you’re stuck with only lands in hand. The -3 is also the only truly potent removal in the deck, and I’ve used it to kill some pretty beefy targets. Ral can also draw attention when I’ve failed to find a Song and need to buy time. I’ve thrown him out to do nothing but absorb damage on many an occasion.
Finally, there’s the Song itself. Play a card, get two more. Run out of mana or actions, and you pitch what’s left in your hand. Not always a great trade-off. As happens too often, I’ll get Song into play and pitch my entire hand, only to draw a land my next turn and be stuck with no play. That particular sequence has probably meant certain death 95% of the time. That’s why having Rielle out before dropping Song is SO good – it guarantees that I will redraw the same number of cards I pitch at the end of my turn, all but guaranteeing something to play my next turn. That’s also why having a Brazen Borrower waiting in exile can be so useful. As long as I have the mana to play it, I can always trigger Song via the exiled Borrower in a pinch. It’s often a last resort, since the faerie itself rarely proves useful as a creature in play.
The perfect setup, which I’ve managed a few times, involves dropping a Song of Creation with Rielle, a Buccaneer, and at least one Ominous Seas in play. A Sprite Dragon is just icing, though they are often perfect drops after untapping with a Song. Play a Dragon, draw two cards (hopefully one of which is a Seas or an Opt) and start the frenzy.
Holding a full grip of cards with 7-8 open mana is intoxicating, particularly as you watch the draw counters pile up on multiple Seas in play. I clearly recall ending a turn with 3 Seas out – one had 24 counters, another 19, and the third 12. Most decks have no answer to four 8/8 Krakens able to be created at instant speed.
The deck isn’t especially powerful unless it gets multiple critical pieces assembled, so it doesn’t win at a generous clip. And I’ve lost multiple games by decking myself, which is a real danger if your opponent removes your early threats or bounces/kills your initial Krakens. In those scenarios you’re left thrashing about trying to wrack up enough draw counters to make more Krakens, or get enough counters on a Sprite Dragon to club the opponent for substantial damage. I have a single Clear the Mind in the deck, and I think I’ve used it meaningfully just once. As Murphy’s Law would have it, I tend to draw it when I have run out of mana to play it, and it gets binned at the end of my turn. I’ve considered adding another copy, or even playing Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, but have yet to test either change.
Of all the cards in the deck, Quench is the one I agonize over the most. It’s truly a love/hate card based on when I draw it. It has been invaluable time and again in the early game, when I can try to keep dangerous threats off the board (things like Ajani’s Pridemate, Brineborn Cutthroat, or Priest of Forgotten Gods.) However, once Song of Creation gets chugging, it’s almost universally a dead card. Draw it with an empty hand, and you’re passing your turn and discarding it. Draw it in the middle of a Song chain, and it’s only useful if your opponent attempts to do something like kill a creature AND they virtually tap out to do that. I’m honestly not sure whether to keep it or drop it. The early game disruption potential of Quench is massive, while the mid-to-late game uselessness of it is tragic.
Since I don’t imagine people visit this blog for deckbuilding advice or tips, I’m not sure any of you will try this out. If you do, two things:
- Prepare to lose often, but rarely win in such a fashion that you weep giant tears of joy (or relief)
- Please let me know how it goes, and if you make any changes to the deck. I strongly suspect there are ways to make the core of the deck more robust, but thus far such changes have eluded my tinkering.
Next time…who knows? All of the posts I have “in the can” are more serious, and I have a strong desire to keep things light and fluffy for awhile. The state of the world being what it is, I need to express some positivity more than I need to over-analyze or rant about anything.
Maybe a report on M21 prerelease kit battles with the kid?
Casual Magicking 